Laboratories that routinely analyze patient specimens have special needs related to the receiving, handling, and storage of samples/specimens once samples/specimens arrive at the laboratory in tubes/containers. Special handling and/or storage requirements are necessary prior to testing, i.e., “pre-analytical”, between testing, and/or after testing, i.e., “post-analytical”. Several of the special requirements impact the quality, accuracy, and/or precision of tests performed on human or animal samples/specimens. Other special requirements are aimed at safely disposing of the samples/specimens once all testing has been completed or the sample/specimen is no longer viable for use in testing.
The most common procedure used in a laboratory for all, or most, of the sample/specimens received is to initially leave the incoming samples/specimens exposed to the ambient room temperature. More particularly, samples/specimens typically remain at ambient temperature during two stages in the typical laboratory workflow. The first stage occurs while the sample/specimen is waiting to be analyzed and/or re-analyzed, which can take hours. The second stage occurs after testing has been completed during which samples/specimens are typically left exposed to the ambient room temperature, placed in a cooled waiting storage area, or disposed of, which occur either at the end of the current operating shift or at the end of the day.
The optimum temperature at which each sample/specimen should be stored prior to analysis varies by the type of test to be performed and/or by the type of sample/specimen, e.g., blood, serum, plasma, cerebral spinal fluid, urine, sperm, and so forth. Indeed, instruments that perform tests and/or the method sheet associated with the testing usually indicate an ideal temperature at which samples/specimens should be presented to the instrument for analysis. This complicates testing. For example, a sample/specimen stored in a refrigerated environment may have been stored at a temperature that is lower than the instrument desires, which could possibly produce inaccurate results. Conversely, a sample/specimen could be stored in a location that causes it to be warmer than desired for a specific instrument.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an automated, refrigerated specimen management system (ARSIMS) having multiple controllable temperature zones to ensure that each sample/specimen arriving at a specific instrument arrives at the optimal or ideal temperature for the instrument according to the method sheet.